Pipe Dreams
by Montik
Summary: Kagome a, a 15 year old in Tokyo, finds herself lost and comes upon a boy sealed by an old sword. Haunted by dreams of him and a dark looming figure watching over him she searchs for a way so save him and to learn more of his past.
1. Chapter 1

Pipe Dreams

Walking up the steps on the bus, Kagome Higurashi waved politely to the driver. She could hear the excited chatter of her friends just behind her, but today she was just too tired to care what they were talking about. She drooped into a seat with her back to the window and held her hand over her mouth as she let out a loud yawn.

She stayed up late last night, her new book about the adventures of youkai in the feudal era having entranced her. She had completely forgotten she had to study for a test until it was almost one in the morning. She didn't remember how much sleep she got last night, but it definitely wasn't much.

Leaning her head on the back of her seat she smiled lazily. Thinking of the samurai in shining armor, evil youkai, powerful priestesses, and helpless hime, she felt the world drift far away. In her dreams she saw great inugami, raging oni, and a young priestess with great strength of heart.

Opening her eyes hazily, she blinked at the changed scenery. I was dark out now, the sky black and the bright lights on the bus like a torch in the night. It was hard to see out of the windows. With a muffled curse Kagome stood up. She wondered why no one had bothered to wake her up, but she still had to get home. She nodded to the driver as she bolted down the steps out onto the dark sidewalk, she had to do a double take. For a second she was sure the chubby man behind the wheel had greenish skin and bulbous yellow eyes. She soon shook off the thought and started on down the street.

She walked carefully, watching her footing on the cracked concrete. She gazed up at blackened and broken windows, looking for names on buildings, street signs, anything to tell her which way was home. How long had she been on that bus? She winced at the loud noise as she kicked a can and the metal scraped on the cement pathway.

She stood frozen as another louder rumble sounded ahead of her. A man fell from the alley yelling and shouting, someone else answering in an even louder voice. Fearing what would happen she turned and ran. A dark alley was the first open place and she pressed her hand to the walls, following them to hopefully a safe haven.

She fell over trashcans and frightened stray cats in her hasty retreat. The path thinned and widened many times as she ran, left, left, right, right, left... faster and faster like a scared rabbit. She frightened herself with her own noises until she was exhausted.

She gasped for breath and fell to her knees. Frightened tears gathered at the corner of her eyes and she tried to take in her surroundings. It was a fairly large room of sorts, the walls looked like rusted metal with chipping paint. It was quiet, steam rose from underneath manholes making a thick haze cling to the ground.

It was quiet, still dark, and a little creepy, but for some reason she wasn't as scared. Her breathing evened out and she braced herself against a wall and rose to her feet, her school bag still on the ground.

"Hello?", she called hesitantly into the still night. The dull hiss of steam being released was her answer, she jumped in surprise. Creeping further into the room she called again, no answer.

Further in the could see a ray of moonlight cutting through the darkness. She could see a wall of pipes, the red exit light making their steam look like a fiery veil. She stepped onto the uncovered walkway just outside of the room. More pipes, like a maze, the jutted from the wall and twisted around each other, hissing and popping as their heated contents escaped through tiny holes in the failing metal. She pressed on, something was there she could feel it. Through the red fog she could see the moonlight again, a stark contrast to the dark colors around her.

Squinting ahead of herself, she tried to make out the illuminated figure obscured by the fog and metal. When she neared him she let out a quiet gasp and clasped her hands over her mouth. Laying back against the brick wall a white haired boy was pinned. A silvery sword jutted from over his heart, holding him in a standing position and moonlit rays shinning all around him illuminating his figure.

She stepped closer, weaving through the pipes and found he had puppy ears atop his head. He reminded her of the inugami in her her story book. Avoiding the sword, she went to his side. Her fingers gently touched his face, he looked peaceful in sleep but sad.

"How'd you get here?", she whispered to her silent companion. Looking at his chest she could see no blood and he didn't look dead, he wasn't cold to the touch. Her hand slid downs, skimming over his shirt and followed the path of the blade but never touching the metal.

She gasped, screamed, and jumped back pressing herself to the wall was a vicious snarl ripped though the alley way.

"Don't touch him, girl", she heard a cold voice from the shadows.

Her eyes darted around looking for the source, her heart pounded in her chest and her breath quickened. "Wh... Who's there?", she called.

Golden eyes and silvery hair revealed themselves in the shadow. She pressed herself further to the wall, the dark promise in his glowing eyes instilling fear in her.

"Do not mettle in what you cannot understand, leave the boy", the tall figure hissed at her. She saw fangs when he spoke that time.

She was now almost on the ground, knees pulled to her chest and the tears of fright once again gathering at the edges of her eyes. "I was just.. lost..", she whimpered, "I wanna go home.. I don't know how I ended up here.. I just wanna be home..", she closed her eyes as her shoulders shook and tears fell.

When she opened her eyes again the dark figure was gone. She peeked over at the sleeping boy, finding a strange comfort in his presence. "At least I'm not alone.. right?", she asked him with a watery smile. Scooting closer she lay her head against his leg and closed her eyes. "Mama's gonna be so worried", she whispered, "I hope I find my way back home..", with that she closed her eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep.

Blinking at her surroundings Kagome noticed the blue seats of the bus and the bright morning sun shining in the windows. Looking at the bus driver, he was the same one she saw every morning on her way to school.

Seeing her confusion, the bus driver chuckled, "They work you kids too hard these days, you fell asleep yesterday too!", his belly shook with his jovial exclamation.

Kagome smiled hesitantly, she didn't remember going home last night or getting on the bus that morning. Was is all really a dream?


	2. Chapter 2

[Haunted Dreams]

The long set of shrine steps looked daunting to Kagome's tired eyes. All day at school she had thought of her odd night, wondering if it was a dream. She couldn't focus on taking notes or listening to the teacher when golden eyes and a sad puppy eared boy kept popping into her mind.

With slouched shoulders Kagome reached the top of the stairs. Her grandpa was sweeping the pathway in the courtyard and spotted her right away. She groaned, she really wanted to go her room and go to sleep.

"Young lady! Do you know how worried you had your mother and I last night! Out late at night, you're lucky demons didn't get you!", she smiled shakily and felt nervous sweat fall down her forehead. Through all the years she thought her grandpa was just crazy but after last night maybe she would rethink her stance on demons.

She walked inside the house, ignoring his ongoing rambles. Her mother wasn't home, probably at the store. Good, she thought. That way she wouldn't have to deal with a talking to from her mother too. She didn't want to explain getting lost in a scary part of town and mysteriously waking up on the bus to school. The fact that her grandpa said she was gone last night made her doubt it was only a dream.

Her backpack was dropped unceremoniously at the door of her room before she sprawled out on her bed. The soft fabric felt so nice, not like the hard concrete and brick from last night or the plastic and metal chairs from school.

The soft material of he fleece throw blanket pillowed her cheek when she scrunched it up and put it under her head like a pillow. She curled up above her blankets and closed her eyes. Her tired mind slowly pulled her into the recesses of sleep, the tiny protest that she had homework and things to do all but forgotten.

_Somewhere dark... It was so dark. Were her eyes even open? She thought they were, waving her hand in front of her face didn't help to discern the answer to that question. A sudden hissing noise made her turn and jump._

_Slowly a red mist made itself known, like glowing steam. It curled around the space she was in wrapping her ankles in it's essence and crawling up unseen walls. She saw it came from a tiny hole in a long smooth mass protruding from the darkness, leaving its origins unknown. She reached to touch it, unsure of what it was. It reminded her vaguely of a large snake body stretched perfectly up and down. As she drew closer it pulsed and wriggled, like something was underneath it. Then it turned to metal, rusting and aging right before her eyes. _

_She gasped and stepped back from the strange magic. The mist seemed to thicken now, pressing down on her. She turned to run and had to stop herself from screaming._

_Standing before her was the slumped form of the dog-eared boy from the alley. His eyes were open, he stared at her. His gaze was clouded with sadness and remorse. A strangled whimper echoed through the empty space, the hissing of pressured steam being released still echoing in the background. _

"_Help me...", he rasped. His voice sounded like a lost child's. _

_Kagome reached out to touch him, to take his hand, she wanted to help like he asked. He looked relieved for a moment then gasped. His features twisted in pain. The mist pulled tighter around him as if his skin were breathing it in. Eyes tainted red were staring back at her outstretched hand before she could blink. Jagged stripes of cobalt adorned his cheeks and his silver hair spun around him like it was caught in a storm. _

_He snarled and she leaped back, crying out in fear. She closed her eyes willing the vision away and she felt a cold breeze over her cheek. _

_Peeking through slitted eyes open her; vision was obscured by a long white kimono sleeve. When it moved from her way she could see the tall white haired man from the night before. The gleaming silver sword was now in the same place as it was in the alley, plunged neatly into the heart of the dog-eared boy. _

_Cold golden eyes met hers, "Run girl!", he shouted. His tone sounded urgent but condescending, as if she was stupid for still sitting there. _

_Jumping up she ran off into the darkness, too scared to be near either of them not to listen. When she peeked back she saw crimson eyes slipping closed and when the tall man let go of his sword it was as if the boy was pinned to an imaginary wall once again._

Kagome awoke with a jump, feeling as though she had just fallen onto her bed and not been lying in it. She was breathing heavy, both out of fright and that it still felt like she had just stopped running after a mile long sprint.

She stumbled in the dark to turn on her desk light, it was night now and she didn't know how long she was asleep for. There was a plate of food there, with a little note from her mom telling her to eat when she woke up from her nap and how glad her mom was that she was home safe.

She sighed and plopped down in her chair, absently eating some of her cold dinner as she turned on her computer. She felt like she needed to help now. She was unwillingly dropped into the lives of those two boys by fate but she still felt like she had to help.

There was something strangely significant about that sword so she decided to start there. The blue glow of the computer screen illuminated her room into the wee hours of the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

[The Ancient Shopkeeper and His Charge]

Hopping off the bus Kagome blew out a puff of air. All day at school she wasn't able to concentrate her search last night on the computer had reaped nothing but more questions and the sleep deprivation made her restless and agitated all day at school.

She clutched her notebook to her chest, the one she had copied all the known information about the sword and the two boys into (which wasn't much). She even went to such lengths as to attempt drawing a likeness of the sword. Considering her lack of artistic training she didn't think it looked half bad.

She glanced around the street in an older part of town. After finding nothing online last night she had gone through her grandpa's rolodex and found the name of a sword shop. He often had the owner of the shop come and identify items that were brought to the shrine, and the old man always seemed to have frighteningly accurate information on the weapons right off the top of his head. She figured he would be the best place to start.

Carefully opening the old creaky door to the dark little shop she slipped inside. The smells of sulfur and burning charcoal met her nose, the old man always smelled like a forge even though she was sure this particular establishment wasn't large enough to hold one. She meandered up to the counter peeking left and right to see where he was when she didn't spot him she called out to him.

"Totosai-dono?" She called hesitantly. A loud thump and an 'oof' from the back room were her answer before the old shopkeeper hobbled over to the counter.

His round bulbous eyes widened at the sight of Kagome and he flashed a gaped tooth grin. He was in his normal attire of a white apron and a red and black striped kimono. "Oh, Kagome-chan! What brings you here? Your grandfather need something?" He asked in a gruff jovial tone.

She showed him the sketch of the sword she had done and relayed him a little white lie as to why she was inquiring about it. She doubted telling him she saw it sticking out of a boy's heart while she was lost in an alley would do much more than make her sound like a loon. The simple story that the information was for a school history report seemed to work well enough.

His eyes scanned over the image and he ran his hand over his goatee in thoughtfully. "You saw this where again?" He asked in a slightly skeptical tone.

She had the distinct inkling he was only going along with her story and that he didn't believe her, "uh... A book at the shrine, but there wasn't much about it in the book..," she stuttered out.

Nodding knowingly Totosai started to walk into the back room he came from and motioned for Kagome to follow him. He walked her over to a large covered pallet, ten feet long and six feet high the covered picture took up almost a whole wall of the large storage space.

"This," he tapped he sketch, "was the sword of a great demon who passed on in the Muromachi period." Totosai reached up and pulled back the long sheet over the painting to reveal an elaborate canvas. The tinted yellow of age marred the smooth surface but the image was still discernible. A great white dog, the features distorted making it look more beastly, stretched out over a battle field. Bright stains of red paint marked the ground he walked on, the only beings still standing besides himself must have been from his own army. Beside the vivid picture of the battle field, fading into the painting and off in the corner was the image of a seemingly human man. The markings on his face gave away his true identity, and they matched that of the dog in the painting.

Kagome's hand reached out to caress the old paper, being ever so careful to take note of it's delicate nature. He looked much like the cold, dark figure she'd seen in the alley way two nights ago, but his markings were blue instead of magenta.

Totosai continued on telling his tale despite her distraction, "He was a general, titled as the Inu no Taisho. He was said to have two swords, this, " he tapped the image on the paper again, "and this one," he pointed to a small image on the painting that she hadn't noticed. It looked vaguely like a curved blade but the paint was obscured with age. "Only myth though.., " Totosai said mournfully, "Neither sword was ever found after his death."

Kagome looked over at Totosai in slight confusion. She knew he believed in youkai and was a wealth of knowledge about them. He spoke of this Dog General's lost sword with such sadness, she couldn't believe he really thought they were just a story.

Turning her eyes back to the painting, she spotted something different. Something shimmered in the old paint next to the image of the General's face. She touched the paint trying to wipe away the dust and see more clearly. As she uncovered the old kanji the mumbled the words aloud.

"Seeing yet never seeing. Protected but never known to it's protector."

A shimmering light erupted around the edges of the painting and the golden eyes of the man in the painting seemed to come to life. The shimmering irises turned to her and she gasped. They crackled with energy and glowed for a moment before a obsidian polished pearl fell from the eye and bounced onto the floor.

The life that so suddenly erupted from the painting dimmed until it was normal again. Her eyes fell on the tiny pearl on the floor. Totosai was staring with a stricken expression on his face at the tiny bobble while clutching to a long table in the room as if it were a lifeline.

Confusion evident on her face she reached over to pick up the pearl, "what's wrong?" She asked without looking at him.

Suddenly she screamed. As she reached for the pearl a vortex of wind started to whip and wind around it. She tried to hold on to the slippery floor to keep from being pulled in. Her feet slipped and she thought she would be sucked in just as a strong arm snaked around her waist and held her fast to a hard chest.

"Foolish girl, I told you to stay away, " a cold voice called through the turbulent winds from just above her head.


	4. Chapter 4

[The Dog General's Tomb]

Looking up Kagome was met with a now familiar flat golden gaze. "You!" She gasped. She couldn't bring herself to be frightened of him as she was in their first encounter in the alley. Even if it was just a dream the night before he had saved her, and it felt so realistic that night she wasn't sure it was a dream.

Feeling strangely safe in his grasp despite the turbulent winds around them she clutched tight to his shirt, clinging closer to him. Her eyes trailed over the tense muscles in his shoulder to his hand, the only place keeping them anchored to the room and preventing them from being sucked into the vortex created by the black pearl. Despite the ease reflected in his face she could see the way the muscles in his forearm twitched and strained, and his knuckles were white from the tension of holding onto the slippery door jam.

She could both feel and hear the animalistic rumbling growl of frustration as his claw tipped fingers slipped from the metal, leaving think lines of silver where the paint scraped away in their wake.

Kagome shut her eyes against the strange feeling of vertigo washing over her. A cloudy mist and a dark light engulfed their wind swept forms, pulling them through the thin walls between one world and the next. Strong arms held her tight to the silver haired man's still rumbling chest, keeping her from being pulled off into the ocean of chaotic energy between the planes. They were pulled on their own jet stream of magic until she no longer felt as if she were in a tumbler but falling strait down.

A clawed hand caught the deceptively strong neck of a skeletal crane and swung them both to stand on the flat of it's back, and stopping their downward descent. Peeking around while still clutching to her companion's shirt she took in her surroundings. The skies were gray and murky, matching the layer of clouds obscuring the ground from their view. The skeletal birds filled the sky a aplenty, dotting the gray backdrop with their stark white bones. In the distance a giant armored skeleton loomed over the ground like a macabre undead monument to a once great king.

The muscles beneath her hands was still and tense, speaking of the agitation and aggrevation of her silent partner. Unsettled by her uncertainty Kagome felt the need to speak and seek answers.

"Where is this place?" She ventured.

Her companion's feet shifted, seemingly steering the bird closer to the looming armored skeleton. "The netherworld," he answered stiffly.

Kagome gasped as a sense of despair washed over her. They were in the netherworld.. that could only mean one thing. Right? "Are we dead?" She asked, her voice trembling as she balanced on the verge of tears.

"No," came the terse reply. His arm came up to grasp the back of her shirt and he pulled her some him like a collared puppy. Small hands clutched at his arm trying to hold on, the hand holding her shirt now the only thing give her a minute grasp on balance. Suddenly Kagome was incredibly frightened again, if she wasn't dead yet would she be so soon? Would he let her fall? She searched his flat gaze for her answer and found it. He had no reason not to... and somehow she had instated his ire full force with one or more of her actions.

"You," he hissed, "are not dead _yet_." He paused and shook her slightly for good measure. "But you have doomed someone else to a worser fate with your meddling." He pushed down on her back as he pulled her behind him and her shocked body complied. Kagome held tight to the crisp white bones of the bird as she shook off the residual tendrils of fear.

They were closer to the giant tomb skeleton now, but still a ways away. The subtle shifts as the bird waned to the will of the silver haired figure atop its back and flew towards their destination went unnoticed by Kagome. Her thoughts rambled on and ran together in an incomprehensible mess as she tried to find where his accusations sprouted from. She found nothing.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything to harm any one... I just..," she paused in a moment of clarity, "is this about that boy? The one pinned to the wall?"

He nodded stiffly, "He is trapped there now. The only method I knew of for his safe revival is barred."

Kagome chewed her bottom lip in a show of indecision before she reached forward to tug on the khaki material of her companion's pant leg. "I... I know you don't like me, but I was only trying to help. I wanted to set him free... I was trying to figure out how... but I think it would be best, now that we're stuck here together, if you explained some of this to me. A good place to start would probably be your name?"

Cold golden eyes perused her sitting form from over a broad shoulder. "Sesshoumaru." He stated simply. "And the boy is Inuyasha."

She nodded, "So.. Why is he stuck there? In that place? And did you seal him there? I had this weird dream..," his hand came up to cease her rambling so he could answer her questions. She was right, she was pulled into this and now stuck in this world until they found a way out so she deserved to know the story thus far.

"He is of Hanyou blood," he paused to see if she understood the significance of the statement but only say confusion in her cerulean gaze so he pressed on. "The youkai half of his blood makes his disposition unstable, it can override his human conscious mind and turn him into a rabid beast. An enemy of his sought to use the weakness of his blood to their advantage and awoke his violent nature. As his elder brother it was my responsibility to see that he didn't cause unnecessary havoc. The only solution I could come up with was to seal him until I found a way to subdue his youkai blood."

"That's aweful..," Kagome mumbled. "How'd they do it? Stir up his youkai side I mean..."

He sighed while still deftly steering their mount and resigned himself to a longer conversation than he would like. "The mist emitted by the pipes that cloud the alley. It causes mild confusion and often panic in humans, and has no effect on full youkai like myself. But to Hanyou it is detrimental to say the least. His enemy, a youkai known as Mistress Centipede, continues to keep the alleyway filled with the mist making it impossible for me to set him free safely. I would attack her... but she is illusive and has evaded my efforts in tracking her down. I found a provision our father made for Inuyasha before he passed, a sword that would quell his blood. But I had no way of reaching it without Inuyasha."

Kagome nodded, "So where is this sword?"

Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth. "It's here... and as far as I know the only way to reach this place was through the pearl you unleashed," his accusing gaze fell on her again, "The pearl can only be used once. And since Inuyasha isn't here to release the sword from it's seal I have no way of obtaining it or bringing it back to him, he will be trapped in his sealed state forever."

Kagome whimpered in both sympathy and guilt as she realized the magnitude of her flub. As she was lost in a downward spiral of remorseful thoughts their skeletal transportion landed on the giant shoulder plate of the massive Tomb.

"We have arrived. I believe the only way back to the plane of the lving will be through here, let us not dawdle." And he stepped smoothly from the creatures back and calmly plodded down the smooth lines of the armor and ribcage to reach the bottom of the tomb while Kagome clumsily followed.


	5. Chapter 5

Reaching the bottom of the inside of the great skeleton was a feat that took Kagome almost the whole of an hour, and included strenuous climbing, some not so strategic slips and falls. It ended with a loud 'oof', 'thud', and 'Ow!' when she landed on the skeleton strewn floor and poked herself on on of the stray broken bones. Thinking of the massive size of the 'skeleton king's' maw Kagome couldn't help but put two and two together in the worst way.

"Uhm.. did this thing.. eat.. humans?" she asked in a quivering voice while silently adding to herself: _Because that would be terribly ironic.._

Sesshoumaru was obviously peeved. "You will not refer to The Dog General as a _thing _or an _it_," he sneered.

"Right," She answered automatically, thinking of her fate and the fact he could decide to leave her there. "So, this Dog General.. He doesn't..," She trailed off awkwardly while gesturing to the skeleton covered floor.

Sesshoumaru just glared before he turned to continue looking at their surroundings like he'd been the entire time she'd been climbing. The fact he hadn't answered made her very nervous.

Now that she had time to admire the vastness of the inner sanctum of the newly dubbed _Dog General_ Kagome realized just how big he was. She'd been inside many business buildings with very large lobbies, whether for school field trips or otherwise, and she'd often gone to the mall which was similar in vastness. But here she stood in a space about as wide as a Skyscraper's lobby, with a ceiling roughly 6 stories up, and beyond the fact that it's size was amazing because it was actually once something living it had no center support to speak of. Just the ribcage precariously attached to the spine by decayed, rotted tendons, and the remains of rusty armor holding it up. That whole bit was another thing that made her nervous now that she looked at it, she'd make sure not to touch anything just in case.

Ten minutes later: Kagome was still standing there like a wall flower and Sesshomaru was still standing in the middle of the room slowly circling and looking around. Well they certainly weren't getting anything done this way. She started carefully picking her way over the floor, wincing whenever she heard the _crunch_ of an old bone under her shoe, and made her way over to a plain-looking, circle-shaped altar near the spine of the big skeleton.

In the middle of the altar was a rusty, old sword, stuck about 3 inches into the stone at it's point. The hilt was intact but it's wrapping was tattered at best. It looked almost as if she touched it it might just turn to dust.

_So it probably wouldn't have helped the boy, Inuyasha, anyway.._ She thought with no small amount of sadness and a bit of guilty relief. If the sword was useless maybe she hadn't ruined his chances after all, they were already lost.

Kneeling at the base Kagome examined the sides of the altar. There were scratches, almost like claws marks embedded into the stone in some semblance of order but none she could understand. Just as she was about to lift her head to ask Sesshomaru about it he was beside her.

The air shifted around her so quickly it couldn't have been a breeze and when she looked up into golden eyes the frosted citrine stared down at her like an unworthy cockroach. "Do not touch that!" He hissed as if she were some untouchable handling a prized golden object. The back of his hand swatted against her back making her tumble into the altar and she grasped the sword for balance.

Sure she was wrong, she'd meddled in his business. Sure it was her fault they were stuck there right at that moment, unwillingly, and together. Sure this might be some sacred place to him. But she was no urchin and she refused to be treated like one, even if this guy scared the crap out of her. "I don't get what your problem is Sesshoumaru!" She accused while pointing an angry finger, "But I'm not any happier about this than you are! If I had to be.. be stuck in this stupid.. limbo, netherworld thing with anyone, well I'd rather this Mistress Centipede woman than you!" Her loud tangent wouldn't stop there, no, she had pent up frustration and it was all indirectly the fault of him and his stupid, sealed, little brother.

"You.. you are the biggest _jerk_ I've ever met. I tried to help you and I probably made more progress than you ever did and all you can do is act like I'm some leech stuck on your foot!" Misty eyed she continued her tangent, all reason gone as she vented her frustrations and fears of being stuck in the netherworld onto Sesshoumaru through her anger. "You are just, just a stupid, stupid jerk.." She gasped out in almost a sob at the end, spent from her impromptu tirade.

She didn't notice the angry tick of his jaw, or the way his eyes darkened at each insult. To him if she died it was collateral damage, her family didn't know him and she would just be another missing young girl. That was fine with him because no mortal was going to get away with insulting the current patriarch of the inudaiyoukai clan and live to tell about it.

Lazily he outstretched his hand, fingers locked straight to allow his acidic poison to flow he prepared to give her a more permanent home in the netherworld. But it wouldn't do for him to kill a weaker opponent while they weren't looking. "Kagome." He called in a stoney voice and she looked up immediately, a petrified expression on her face at seeing the threatening position of his outstretched claws.

As the neon green liquid spewed from his hand she acted on instinct attempting to ward away the danger by holding her forearms up like a shield. She didn't notice the quiet _shink_ of metal on stone, nor the surprisingly slight weight resting easily in her hand, but when she opened her eyes she most certainly noticed the shell shaped hardened poison around her. Kagome gasped as it slowly crumbled away, revealing the slightly shocked face of Sesshoumaru, hand still outstretched and staring at her in disbelief.

She gaped like a fish staring at him as she stumbled backwards away from him. "You..," came her startled, accusing whisper. "You tried to _melt_ me..," Kagome couldn't take her eyes off the melted skeletons around her that by all means _should_ have been her! "No way, no way, I'm out of here..," She mumbled, still in a shocked state, as she turned and scrambled up the ribs of the Dog General's skeleton. "You find your own way out. I'm leaving." So caught up was she that she was still oblivious to the sword in her hand. That was until the moment it trembled and sparked as she reached the skeleton wall.

"What the...," Was all Kagome could get out before the wind picked up around them. Bits of bone flew through the air in a swirling vortex and in the center formed a mass of darkened energy. "Noo!" She screamed reaching to clutch to the nearest rib to anchor herself as her legs were picked up and she was pulled towards the vortex.

Sesshoumaru was torn, the wind wasn't enough to pull him so it wasn't too much of a worry right then. But he had attempted to kill her, and now she somehow held the Tessaiga (he had no idea how she broke the seal) and she wasn't dead. He had to make a decision in the split second before she would be torn into the vortex, and possibly lost forever along with the sword. She was able to hold the sword he knew he couldn't, she still had worth then. The decision was made.

A muscled arm curled around her waist and pulled her into an equally muscled chest before she was pressed into the Dog General's ribcage with Sesshoumaru at her back, now effectively sandwiched in and protected from the wind she took the time to think more clearly. Still not trusting him fully her arms were locked tight around the thick white rib bone as if her life depended on it.

Here was a vortex that looked just like the one that brought them here, they'd apparently gotten what they were meant to get from this place, and the vortex did have excellent timing in concurrence with the sword's release. Only one conclusion to draw.

"Do you think that's our way home?" Kagome ventured hopefully.

"Or it is a trap," Sesshomaru's deep voice rumbled behind her.

The question was: Was the chance it could be the way home worth the risk it could be a trap?

Kagome had no time to answer for herself as her arms were wrenched from their hand hold and Sesshomaru threw them both into the swirling nether of the vortex.

The weightless feeling of vertigo made Kagome want to be sick and the heavy thud as they suddenly landed harshly on the ground didn't help that feeling any either.

Once stable enough to look around Kagome was sure there were still not back to normal, nice, reality yet. The colors were a mix of monotone and a shifting mire of kaleidoscope shades that made her want to sit down and close her eyes to gain her balance again. The world felt as if it swayed and tipped like a ship on a stormy sea and the sky and ground were the same exact matte color that made it hard to discern top from bottom even though she was obviously standing on one.

"Prepare to defend yourself," she heard Sesshoumaru's voice, though the latter half of the statement was muffled but a wall as it slid between them with all the finality of a guillotine. SLAM! It shut them off from one another. SLAM! Came another from behind. Kagome spun, only to see she was walled in on all sides and soon she had no idea which way she'd been facing in the first place.

An eerie silence hung in the air, making it feel thick and suffocating. Frightened, Kagome gasped for breath in the small combined space and hesitantly touched the walls to see if she could push her way out.

Another gasp that wasn't her own sounded. The rattling quality made her heart clench with fear. It was behind her, and though it was childish she hoped maybe if she didn't look at whatever was there it would just go away.

"Give me the sword," a weak voice begged from behind. She spun towards it to see the white haired boy, Inuyasha, pinned to the wall by his brother's sword. Blood dripped from his lips as if the wound were fatal while he desperately reached for the tattered blade in her hand.

Kagome clutched it to her. This wasn't right, she repeated to herself in her mind. Inuyasha was not there, this wasn't Tokyo... This wasn't even REAL.

"Sesshoumaru," she whispered like a frightened child.

"Give me the sword," She spun around at the sound of his deep voice and almost handed him the blade obediently. If it hadn't been for the look in his eyes. There was something sinister, greedy in those amber depths that was not Sesshoumaru. He was angry, and he was cruel, but there was no greed or deceptiveness in him.

Clutching the sword back to her chest she hissed at him with as much vehemence as she could muster, "NO."

A lingering hiss echoed from behind her before she was enclosed in 'Inuyasha's' arms. She had turned her back on a potential enemy and now she was trapped. "Sesshooomaaruu!" She cried as loud as she could, hoping somehow the walls of this place were as not confining to him as they were to her.

* * *

The silence in the new world they'd fallen into was unsettling. Silence to a human was one thing, but his heightened senses would not even pick up the whisper of cloth on cloth of their enemy walking.

The hiss of stone on stone alerted him to the walls movment before Kagome could have dreamed of hearing it. But he would not be fast enough to move before it closed.

"Prepare to defend yourself," he warned. He hoped the sword would protect her again as it had done against him.

Deafening, solitary, silence. It surrounded him now, not even the heavy gasps of Kagome's breath that had been there before, just his own. Rotating slowly he looked to see if there was an obvious exit, a door or hole that had appeared without his notice.

Then a dull roar of voices flooded his ears. They drowned out the sound of his feet on the ground and made thinking nearly impossible.

The whispers all around him echoed, bouncing and reverberating off the walls with all the chaotic ardor of a swarm of locusts. He was lost in this world of false scents, unending pathways, and shifting gravity.

Whispers.. .Whispers...

_Take the jewel... _

_Kill the girl.. _

_Leave the boy..._

_Power.. _

_Power.._

_Take the Jewel..._

They ran in his mind making it impossible to focus on anything else. He thought he would go mad soon.

Then a voice scrapped through the bog of their illusion, shattering the chaotic glass that hid him from the rest of the world.

"_Sesshooomaaruu!"_

The wall to his right. He swung with a mighty, clawed hand and it crumbled like a house built of dirt.

Another wall. Then the left. Then another. The sound of her struggles were close. One thought ran through his mind: he had to protect the sword, it was his honor bound duty. The last wall shattered.

* * *

In the last frightening moment when she was sure she wouldn't last another second with the cold clawed hands of the false Inuyasha tightening around her neck the wall to her right crumbled. A crimson eyed savior with a cape of flaxen hair crashed through the wall as if it were barely there. Claws shredded the hands about her neck like cheap cloth and the other hand marked the false Sesshoumaru's cheek with three bloody lines. Before Kagome could see more she was behind a wall of white, hiding behind Sesshoumaru, her back facing the direction he'd just come from.

As his claws scraped over the flesh of his doppelganger we saw the illusion fade. A striking male with angular features and mischievously clever eyes grinned at him before disappearing through the wall with a devious cackle.

The black mask like markings over his face and the cone-shaped farmers hat on his head gave away his breed.

"Tanuki," he hissed. As if the jolly little tricksters weren't enough Mistress Centipede had some how weaseled a daiyoukai, Tanuki lord into her employ. A most dangerous foe indeed.


End file.
